VP Binay, Sereno also suffer ratings drop after DAP ruling – Pulse Asia

(Updated 2:14 p.m.) Like President Benigno Aquino III, four other top government officials suffered a decline in their approval and trust ratings after the Supreme Court ruling on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), pollster Pulse Asia reported Friday.

The spending mechanism had been widely criticized, but surprisingly, the SC's adverse ruling on the DAP failed to improve Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's approval ratings, which slid from 40 percent last March to 35 percent in June.

 

Sereno's trust ratings were also virtually unchanged from 36 percent last March to 32 percent in June.

 

Vice President Jejomar Binay, whose opposition coalition has been criticizing the use of the DAP, also saw a decline in both his trust and approval ratings.

 

Binay's approval ratings dipped from 87 percent in March to 81 percent in June. His trust ratings also decreased from 86 percent in March to 79 percent during the survey period.

 

The Pulse Asia survey was conducted on 1,200 Filipino adults from June 24 to July 2 this year, covering the period the SC declared the DAP as partially unconstitutional. 

 

The pollster earlier reported a significant decline in President Aquino's approval and trust ratings after the DAP ruling. 

 

Malacañang has appealed the SC decision on the controversial spending mechanism, maintaining that it was undertaken in good faith.

In a statement, Binay's spokesman Joey Salgado did not comment on the ratings drop, but focused instead on the vice president's "majority trust and approval ratings."

"He [Binay] will continue to focus on his work and will not be distracted or deterred by baseless, fictitious and politically motivated attacks clearly linked to the coming 2016 presidential election," Salgado said.

 

Congress leaders

 

The survey also covered the period of Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada's arrests on plunder charges for the alleged pork barrel scam. These arrests, however, failed to give a positive effect on Congress leaders' ratings.

 

Senate President Franklin Drilon, who endorsed DAP projects worth P100 million, also saw declining trust and approval ratings during the survey period.

 

Drilon's trust ratings fell to 46 percent from 55 percent five months ago. His approval ratings also went down from 58 percent to 52 percent.

 

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.'s ratings, meanwhile, were well within the survey's margin-of-error. 

 

Belmonte's trust ratings were virtually unchanged from 31 percent in March to 28 percent in June. The same can be said about his approval ratings, which were virtually steady at 33 percent from 36 percent in March.

 

Aside from the pork barrel and the DAP controversies, other issues during the survey period include the rising prices of basic commodities, the continuing territorial dispute between China and the Philippines, and Aquino's decision not to declare Nora Aunor as National Artist. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News